Northern Michigan Buck

[Fdh]

enjoyed Your post. I have 20 acres in rapid river. my son joined me and got his first buck the second day. First time he had shot a rifle was Saturday! 40 years old and I think I finally made hum a hunte!

 

[Cedarsavage]

Good luck.

Supposed to snow Friday, gonna hunt a tree Saturday morning by where I shot a doe last weekend then around noon I'm gonna creep back into my swamp spot, set a trail camera up the other day on a run, I'll check that to help determine whether to sit there or push in further, hopefully enough snow sticks for tracks if needed to be.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Thanks. That’s awesome congrats to both you guys on the buck. Rapid is a cool area. How is the pressure around there? Seems like from when I’ve bowhunted southern up there’s a solid amount of pressure.

enjoyed Your post. I have 20 acres in rapid river. my son joined me and got his first buck the second day. First time he had shot a rifle was Saturday! 40 years old and I think I finally made hum a hunte!

 

[Cedarsavage]

Thanks. It’s definitely a different world of hunting. I’ve altered a lot of things in the past few years for hunting here. Houghton seems like a cool place only spent a little time there, never hunted the area. Always mean to scout it a bit. Sounds like there might be better natural food sources in that area. In the form of apple orchards from abandoned mining camps? You ever find anything like that?

Congrats. I went to college at MTU in houghton. 4 years never killed a deer. Always drove back below the bridge to my parents house to tag out.

 

[Northpark]

Thanks. It’s definitely a different world of hunting. I’ve altered a lot of things in the past few years for hunting here. Houghton seems like a cool place only spent a little time there, never hunted the area. Always mean to scout it a bit. Sounds like there might be better natural food sources in that area. In the form of apple orchards from abandoned mining camps? You ever find anything like that?

I did find old abandoned orchards there. There was deer in them for sure I just never connected with one.

 

[Miboy86]

First deer I ever killed was a spike the second week of gun season in 2002 in the u.p. with my 30/30. We used to hunt not far from watersmeet.

 

[Cedarsavage]

I’ve never hunted in there, but we used to fish the wilderness area when I was a kid. I haven’t been there in 10 plus years but we used to catch a ton of bass. All catch and release. I’d like to get back in there again, but spring is always busy here. Once the snow is gone there just isn’t enough time to get everything done that you haven’t been able to do for 6 months.

First deer I ever killed was a spike the second week of gun season in 2002 in the u.p. with my 30/30. We used to hunt not far from watersmeet.

 

[Miboy86]

My grandpa has a cabin right on the lake outside of curtis, I've never been there, he's always trying to get me to go up there.

 

[barrister]

I’d love to get any tips you may have on hunting big woods bucks. I have lots of experience with smaller woods and agriculture land, but I’m learning about the bigger tracts of land in Northern Michigan. I’ve been at it during rifle season the last 3 years and we are seeing more deer as we scout more land, but still a lot to learn about how these deer act and pattern (if there even is a pattern).

Do you slow hunt through big areas, do you or go on stand and try to ambush them even in such a big area?

 

[Cedarsavage]

I’d love to get any tips you may have on hunting big woods bucks. I have lots of experience with smaller woods and agriculture land, but I’m learning about the bigger tracts of land in Northern Michigan. I’ve been at it during rifle season the last 3 years and we are seeing more deer as we scout more land, but still a lot to learn about how these deer act and pattern (if there even is a pattern).

Do you slow hunt through big areas, do you or go on stand and try to ambush them even in such a big area?

Short answer it depends. Long answer... If I think they move "over there" I still hunt, if I think they'll cruise through "this area" I setup on that trail. Stillhunting has been great for learning new areas. That particular buck I setup on the downwind side of oaks that I knew held a bunch of does, and expected the bucks to cruise downwind. Which is what he did. I think I said it in the video but I had planned on sitting in an altered spot from the previous day to capitalize on the movement I saw.

Last years buck, I setup in a funnel that I saw from the road had a bunch of tracks coming out of. My prediction was that does would come through, and was hoping a buck would follow. Which is what happened at 9am on opening day. And I killed him. After I shot him my trail camera verified he had done that a few days prior. I didn't check that camera before hunting because, I could tell deer where traveling through there from the road, so I didn't see any value in stinking it up to verify what I already knew.

If there's snow and there's not much pressure I'm gonna drive roads and look for tracks, then follow them. I've had a bunch of doe encounters doing that, but couldn't shoot because I didn't have a tag. Lots of close calls where I either had a combo tag, and he didn't have enough antlers to be legal or didn't see a rack until it was too late. I got into stillhunting by default. The first year we were here, I hunted 3-5x a week from 10/20-11/20 without seeing a deer. 11/20 I started stillhunting transitions and started seeing deer and killed one stillhunting one of the last days of the season.

When I hunted pressured deer in lower michigan cover was king. Here there's cover everywhere, food is king. This year was a bumper acorn crop. Guys I know who bait, and rely on bait with no other scouting saw few to no deer. I think most years when acorns aren't such a factor they do better. But most of them seem to kill one every 3-5 years, in this unit. Most years when the snow flies I key in on poplar whips, knee to chest high. That's there big browse. I find the does and wait for a buck to come chasing through during the rut. I struggle to get pics of bucks outside the rut, and this is the first year we've had option to shoot does during archery.

Outside the rut, it's damn near impossible without snow. I'm trying this weekend since I have a doe tag (in a different unit), and I really wanna get one with my flintlock, and it seems like a waste not to now that we can shoot does for the first time in years.

 

[bootstrap]

Congratulations on the buck Cedarsavage.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Congratulations on the buck Cedarsavage.

Thanks

 

[Coveyleader]

UP is a great place to bowhunt if you want to be alone. Rifle, you can keep it.

 

[highcj5]

Congrats on the U.P. deer. I hunted up there about 25 years ago. Hard hunting. Heard there are a lot of wolves up that way now

 

[Cedarsavage]

Congrats on the U.P. deer. I hunted up there about 25 years ago. Hard hunting. Heard there are a lot of wolves up that way now

Thanks, yes and no on the wolves. I've seen scat from them behind my house, but not in awhile. Place I was poking around Saturday had a few piles. I used to hear them howl more when we lived here ten years ago. I saw one in the spring scouting, but sightings are pretty rare. I think he was asleep and I came over a hill and there he was. It took me a second to recognize what he was, because I was expecting to see a deer. We both stared each other down a minute, then he scooted out of there. Glad I decided not to take my dogs that day. 3 years ago I was winter scouting with my dog, and saw running tracks from a deer with a pack behind it, very fresh, probably could have caught up to them, but I was afraid to have my dog around them so we went home.

 

[Javelina]

Congrats

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Congrats. I went to college at MTU in houghton. 4 years never killed a deer. Always drove back below the bridge to my parents house to tag out.

Tech still sucks

 

[Northpark]

Tech still sucks

Well In the sense it was cold enough to freeze hell over I’ll agree. Figured out some pretty fantastic duck hunting though.

If you’re referencing the hockey team you can pound sand!

Curious though did you happen to go to NMU?

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Well In the sense it was cold enough to freeze hell over I’ll agree. Figured out some pretty fantastic duck hunting though.

If you’re referencing the hockey team you can pound sand!

Curious though did you happen to go to NMU?

Tech hockey

now that’s a goon squad if there’s ever been one.

20k a year to have the privilege to have online classes. You can’t even make that up.

 

[Northpark]

Tech hockey

now that’s a goon squad if there’s ever been one.

20k a year to have the privilege to have online classes. You can’t even make that up.

Ya it was expensive when I went. Can’t imagine what it is now.